Witness Your Cycle of Energy from Inaction to Action

I mean, actually standing over the pot and watching. It really does boil, even when you watch it! If you do, here’s what you’ll see.

Water Boiling is Like Your Own Energy

First, teeny bubbles form at the bottom of the pot. The surface, though unbroken starts moving.

Then, gradually, the bubbles grow and merge and rise, breaking the smooth surface until it’s roiling and dancing and cratering. As the water boils, the bubbles break. Steam escapes the burbling brew. And the energy that began with the flame below the pot has transformed confined matter into sheer energy.

A personal example

Watching the water boil I imagined that same transformation taking place in me… and you!

You sit calmly until something energizes you. Perhaps it’s a deadline that pushes you or a desire that pulls you. That’s the flame.

And then, like the heating water, the small bubbles of energy start to form. And when the energy is high enough, you act.

This morning, I watched myself move through the same sequence, from calm to agitated to energetic to active.

4 Stages in the Cycle of Energy

Here are the stages in the cycles of energy, from calm to release. I’ll describe my own actions to illustrate the process.

1. Quiet and calm

Sitting quietly with my coffee early in the morning enjoying the calm.

2. Anxiety and agitation

Then I got agitated. Just sitting there and not doing anything didn’t last very long. There was work to be done and I wasn’t doing it. That agitation was like the flame. It created energy that disrupted my calm. Gradually, the energy grew and reshaped itself into a prioritized to-do list.

3. Energy and momentum

By the time I finished the list, the bubbles of energy didn’t just tickle the surface, they began to take over. No more sitting. No more coffee.

4. Action and release

And finally, the energy that grew out of agitation exploded and I got to work. And at that precise moment, I started feeling better. The agitation resolved into motion. Like the steam rising from the pot.

Becoming Aware of this Cycle

This little cycle takes place again and again.

I’m particularly aware of it when I’ve got to do something that makes me uncomfortable. Something I’m afraid of. The discomfort has to rise to the level that motivates action. And then, once the anxiety has shifted to energy and finally to action, I often find it’s fun.

The cycles that move people from inaction to action are natural and important and powerful. Noticing them makes a big difference.

TryThis

Notice Your Action Cycle

What moves you from inaction to action? How long before a deadline does it start? How uncomfortable does it make you feel? Can you see in it the energy cycle that occurs over and over again?

Once you recognize that pattern and the feelings that go along with each stage, perhaps you’ll be able to translate the discomfort into excitement and release more quickly.

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Thank you, Andrea

"Thanks very much for your presentation to the Planned Giving Group of New England. You gave us all tremendous food for thought while reframing some of the basic building blocks of our work. I look forward to sharing your nuggets with my colleagues." --Kaja K. Fiches, Senior Major Gifts Officer, WGBH, Boston